Team

Opening statement:“It was a tale of about three football games there today. First quarter, we did things the way we need to. Second quarter, we did nothing but get in our own way. Got penalities and the things that killed us. Came back in the third and fourth quarter and were able to take the ball away on defense and get back in control of the game. That was a good job. So, good job today in the running game and things offensively but not as good in the protection. Didn’t have very good protection today and we’ve got to get better at that. That was kind of what led to our demise, particularly in the second and third quarter that allowed them to take the ball away on defense.”

On how important it was to come back and win in a short week after a loss last week:“Well, we realize what’s at stake. So, I think we looked at each other with thirty minutes to go and we were down and we knew we had to go put football plays together. We hurt ourselves with the penalties and the things in the first and into the second quarter both offensively, defensively and so forth. We allowed some third down conversions in the second quarter on defense and we put ourselves at risk.”

On CB Leon Hall’s interception:“It was a good play to kind of turn the game around, get in scoring position. We went down and scored and that was big. Those are the things you’ve got to do and we have to keep making plays that way.”

On whether the defense picked the team up:“Well, we needed to. Sometimes it’s the offense. Sometimes it’s the defense but we were able to get things going with the turnovers today and they were a big part of the game.”

On how much the injury on FB Chris Pressley changed the game:“We had to redirect some things at half time and we came out in the second half and got some things redirected on offense. We had probably a little more in the game plan today than we would have some weeks so we had to wait until we got in here at half time and redirect some things and get [TE] Orson [Charles] going and it was good. Orson came out and did a great job as the fullback there for us. It kind of reduces your sheet for a bit until we could get it put together and get on the same page.”

On how significant Pressley’s injury is:“A little bit but I don’t like to speculate.”

On how much he will let the team celebrate before they need to focus on the next game:“Well, we’ve got nothing to celebrate. We’ll just move forward. They’ve got some time to recharge themselves and get ready to go. They’ve got some time to take and get ourselves ready to get going for Pittsburgh.”

On how close this team is to being where he wants it to be:“I like this football team. I don’t like how we play sometimes but I like our football team. I wouldn’t’ trade them for anybody’s. We just have to keep playing smart and do the things we do. I believe we caught a punt today on the 1-yard line but we just try so doggone hard sometimes we just get in our own way. Those are the kind of things that you don’t want to do. So, that said, we have a lot to coach off of obviously, a lot of corrections to make. We can’t have the penalties. We can’t have the things we had today, three offsides on defense and then the holding penalties on offense and so forth. They did a good job today of coming in here and catching the ball, though. That’s what killed us last week. In a lot of ways, we did a lot of better things. We just have to keep going and we are who we are. We’re going to bite, fight and scratch every time we come out here.”

On how he feels about being 8-6:“Well, I like the situation with the fact that we control us. That’s all we can ask for here in December is that we control what we can do and take care of business and we’ll be where we want to be. We’ve got an opportunity to keep playing and win January. We want to win December and then we want to go win January.”

On how he explains a team that was 1-7 two years ago on the road and has won 10 of its last 17 road games:“You guys keep track of all that stuff and I keep track of each Sunday one at a time. So, I can’t figure it out. I do know that we show mental toughness and today we were able to put the first ten behind us and move forward and that’s what we have to just keep doing, keep doing, keep doing. They did a good job today.”

On how he plans to correct the penalties:“We have to play smarter. We have to move our feet and can’t get ourselves in bad position where the fouls were occurring. Those are the things we have to continue to keep looking at and so forth and coaching. We knew those would be called closely out here today.”

On whether all penalties bother him or just specific ones:“Dumb pre-snap penalties are very bad because they’re selfish penalties. They’re discipline penalties. You’re not taking care of your business. Or we had three or four offsides today. [DE] Carlos [Dunlap] has a personal foul when he’s free to the quarterback. You have to be smarter than that. You know better than that. Those are the things that you play going forward that will get us beat and we can’t do those things.”

On how he felt RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis did today:“Benny did a good job with things. Benny doesn’t block anybody and we’ve got to keep blocking him and doing the things we do.” (jokingly)

On whether that second quarter was one of the worst he has ever seen:“It mirrored some of our third quarters this year.” (jokingly)

On the pass protection:“We’ll take a look at it.”

On how much the loss of Pressley impacted the game:“Again, we had some things personnel-wise today that affected us a little bit. Like I said earlier, at halftime we were able to put some things together that kind of got us straightened out and going.”

On how T Andrew Whitworth is doing:“I think he’s fine. He was talking to us awhile so I guess we’ll go through the protocol.”

On how much of an advantage it is that the team has ten days to prepare:“We don’t have ten days. We don’t prepare for ten days. We will have a normal week for Pittsburgh and that will be great. It won’t be a three-day week. It will be a 5-day, 6-day week so that will be great for us.”

How much of an advantage it will be to have three days off: “It’s a good advantage for our players to get themselves to regroup. They’ve been grinding and stuff so they have the chance to regroup and refresh and come back ready to go.”

ANDY DALTON

On coming back the way his team did in the third quarter and taking over the game:“It was huge. We didn’t play very well, especially offensively, early on in the game. We knew that we had to stay the course. We had to make one play here and there and good things would happen. That’s why you play four quarters. It was ugly early on but in the end we were able to get a win. I think I heard a stat saying we scored 24 points in three-and-a-half minutes or something like that, and things like that happen.”

On his chips becoming ineffective the way the Eagles were stunting and twisting inside and their pass rush becoming a factor of concern:“They did a good job. They did a good job of their stunts and things like that up front. We got to hold up though. We got to find out what they’re doing and be able to make sure that we can get it blocked. Also with what they were doing, there were some lanes for me to run. And with that stuff we were able to take advantage of it.”

On how he likes the situation of the team from here on out being 8-6 with two to go:“We’re in control of everything. That’s how you want to have it. In December, you want to be able to have a chance for the playoffs and be in control of that. We’ve got two big games in the next two weeks and a lot is going to be decided in these last two. But we’ll be ready to go.”

On the team responding the way they did in the short turn around after a tough loss:“It’s what you have to do. We had a tough one and we did have a quick turnaround. This is my first Sunday-Thursday game to play and I thought we did a good job. I thought we were able to put that loss behind us and just come out and play.

On having a “mini-bye” week after a short week helping to get the team healthy:“I think one good thing about having a Thursday game is the time that you have afterwards. We’re doing everything we can to get all the guys healthy and back ready to go.”

On games with playoff hopes and the pressure with a lot on the line being a fun atmosphere:“Yeah, it is. It makes it fun that at the end of the year you’re playing for something and that’s the way you want to have it.”

On the defense picking the team up in the third quarter especially on the touchdown drive:“It was huge. The defense played great. They’ve played great for a while. They’ve given us good field position, even on special teams we’ve got good field position and different things like that. It’s a team game. You’ve got to be able to hit on all cylinders and all phases of the game.”

On not being able to ask for anything more with controlling their own destiny in December and playing significant games:“No, you can’t. This is exactly where you wanted to be at the beginning of the season. We wanted to be in December and have a chance for the playoffs. And it’s exactly where we were, and it’s good to be in control of that.”

On playing better on the road than they do at home:“I don’t know. We obviously would like to play better at home, but it just hadn’t happened. I don’t think there’s a reason for it. We have to play better, especially in the last one that we have there. So you can’t put your finger on one thing that’s the reason why we played better.”

On the Eagles doing a good job of plastering down the field and having tight coverage in the early stages of the game before the pass rush took over: “Yeah, they did a good job defensively. It seems like when you watch the film of them going into the game, it seems they always had a guy right next to our guy or the team that they were playing. They did a good job, but we stayed the course of the game and good things happened.”

A.J. GREEN

On what the Bengals need to do to play with more consistency:“This was a nice win for the team, but it will be critical for us that we continue to practice hard and not make mistakes. We started off slowly on defense and will not be able to do that as the season progresses for us. The next two weeks will be critical for us to improve and come together as a unit. Last week, we could not finish off drives but we were able to do it today.”

On the play of the offense:“I think the defense was what gave us the momentum today by their great play. Our offense needs to continue to execute and gain the momentum for us in the next couple of weeks. I was happy to score a touchdown because the Eagles cornerback coverage in the game was very good and we needed to score. We need to play better as a team and I have all the faith that we will.”

On what the win did for the team: “I think it showed us that if we stay focused we will do well as we march towards the playoffs. If we do not keep focused it could hurt us. We must play all four quarters and finish out all the games and this is going to be vital to our success.”

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS

On what the win does for the team after the previous week’s loss:“It is a big win for us but we have to put it behind us in a hurry and get ready for the Pittsburgh game coming up next week. It is important that we continue to improve.”

On what it means for them to control their own destiny the next couple of weeks:“We just need to take it one day at a time and one game at a time. It will be imperative that we prepare well for Pittsburgh and practice hard to come out with a win against Pittsburgh. They are who we have to think about now. We need to play all four quarters and come out with the win.”

On how the team reacted to scoring three times in a little over three minutes: “It is always fun to be out there and scoring touchdowns and scoring in bunches. It got us going at the end of the third quarter and we did not look back. In those three minutes, we just made a lot of plays and that is what we needed to do to turn the game around. This was a nice win for the team.”

KEVIN ZEITLER

On the play of the offensive line in the first half:“I think the line was very frustrated in the first half because we missed some of our assignments with blocking. The Eagles have some very talented pass rushers and they had us really frustrated. We gave up some sacks and we need to improve on our play, but we did come out and play better in the second half. I think the Eagles have a new defensive line coach and he did some things we had not seen on film and we had to adjust.”

On what they need to do to improve before Pittsburgh:“We just need to watch some film and see where we made many of our mistakes in the first half and just make the necessary changes before playing Pittsburgh. The Eagles really came out in the beginning of the game with a ton of energy and it paid off for them. [DE Brandon] Graham was very quick and posed some problems for us. Also [DT Cullen] Jenkins threw about every tactical move on us and many of them worked and he brought a ton of pressure on our quarterback much of the game.”

On what the loss of Pressley in the game did to the run game:“He is a very strong player and really helps to open up the holes and when we lost him earlier in the game, it hurt us. We were able to get him on some key blocks in the first quarter [and] that really opened up for some large gains. Others filled in and it was next man up and they did a nice job when we really needed it.”

On the play of the defense that changed the momentum of the whole game: “The defense was what got the game going in our favor and they gave us the momentum in the game. When they caused the fumble and brought it back for the touchdown, we seemed to not look back. I definitely have to tip my hat to them because they picked us up on offense when we were struggling a little bit.”

LEON HALL

On his first interception of the season:“I was able to get one today, finally. I dropped a few earlier this year. But it was huge because getting the turnover, getting the ball back to the offense, and then obviously we got a couple more turnovers later really made the difference in the game.”

On the mistakes in the game:“Well, we really can’t have them. Especially the amount of penalties we had, you know you really can’t have them if you want to be a factor in the playoffs.”

On the differences between the two halves: “Coming out in the second half, in some of the defensive huddles, we were just asking who was going to make the big play that we need. That’s kind of the defense we have here, even with the penalties or our performance not being great, we are able to come back and regroup and play and get the win.”

WALLACE GILBERRY

On the mistakes in tonight’s game:“Yes, there were a lot of mistakes, even some by myself. So we have to go back and look at the film and see what we must do. With next week’s game against a team like the Steelers, there is no room for error. We know that and they know that, so just like I said we have to correct the mistakes and just make sure we play sound football and hopefully keep this thing going.”

On how much it would mean to correct those mistakes for next week’s game: “It’s a must. It’s not one of those things where we are saying can we do it or will we do it, we have to do it. Because I’m sure that they don’t care about us making mistakes. In games like that you can’t take the momentum and give the momentum up, so we must correct the mistakes and focus on the little things and do our job to win the game.”

ADAM JONES

On his thoughts about the pivotal third quarter:“We just played hard. We played better in the second half. We had a couple things go our way and that’s just what happens sometimes. When you have 11 guys that are going full speed, and just working hard, that’s going to happen.”

On his thoughts about next week’s game against the Ravens: “The game earlier this year, we gave them that game. We need the game period. Point blank, we need the games. So we have to bring our chinstraps and get ready for a battle.”

EAGLES COACH ANDY REID

Initial comments:“Five turnovers and 31 points, that really says it all. I thought the effort was there and guys played hard, but you just can’t have those turnovers. That’s a problem. We had the one problem on special teams where [LB] Ryan Rau got caught up [on the sideline] when he needed to be out on the field on the punt block. He’s a new guy who is learning what we’re doing. The bottom line comes down to the five turnovers and the 31 points.”

Injury Report:“[FB Stanley] Havili went out of the game with a hamstring strain, and he’ll have an MRI in the morning. [LG Evan] Mathis has an ankle sprain. [It’s] the same ankle that was bothering him before. [CB Brandon] Hughes, we’re not sure yet exactly what that is. They’re evaluating him now. [CB] Nnamdi [Asomugha] came out for a bit just to have his hand x-rayed, and he came back. [TE Clay] Harbor had a low back spasm.”

On the turnovers throughout the game:“The turnovers occurred throughout the game, but there were a clump of them right there where we had three fumbles and the interception. You have to take care of the ball. There’s nothing that I can say about that, but it’s my responsibility to make sure the guys do it. I take full responsibility and full blame for that.”

On whether RB Bryce Brown has been tentative running to contact due his past fumbles:“Very seldom are you going to whiff a guy and have a man right in your face as the ball and defender come together at the same time. That’s a tough deal, but you have to hold onto the football. That’s not an excuse. You have to make sure you hold onto it. But it all was a joint effort there with that penetration.”

On whether RB Bryce Brown has a tendency to bounce runs outside too often:“We have to do a better job of putting him in better positions. I’ll take that on the plays that were called.”

On the play of QB Nick Foles:“There were some things early that were good. We went into halftime with a lead, but we didn’t do well enough in the red zone and I take responsibility for that. Still we were up 13-10 at halftime and we had an opportunity to go down and make some positive points when we crossed the 50-yard-line there, but we weren’t able to capture that between the penalties and the turnovers.”

On what should have occurred on the short Cincinnati kickoff which resulted in a fumble:“A fair catch.”

On the play of the Eagles defensive line:“I thought they did a good job. They obviously gave the quarterback enough pressure and sacks to where he was struggling throwing the ball there for a while. I thought they played hard and aggressive. I didn’t think the defense was necessarily the issue as much as the turnovers were.”

On whether the Eagle mistakes can be attributed to the youth of the team:“I take responsibility for it. I’m the one who is teaching them along with my coaches. We have to do a better job. My guys have to keep playing hard, and they have to learn from their mistakes and get better. That’s where we’re at in the season, and we have to do a better job there. We’re looking for improvement right now. Tonight, we did okay for a couple of the quarters, and in the other quarters we didn’t do very well.”

On whether the struggles by Foles with deep passing routes can be attributed to a lack of arm strength:“He’s got a real strong arm. You can put his arm up against anybody in this league. You just have to make sure that he’s taking time to look people off, and you have to make sure you don’t spend too much time doing that. You have to make sure you get your feet around and that you have enough momentum to get your body and legs into the throw.”

On whether he will consider reinserting QB Michael Vick as the starting quarterback now that he has passed his independent neurological exam:“I’m going to stick with Nick.”

On the progress of RB LeSean McCoy in regard to his recovery from a concussion:“We’ll see how he does in the next few days.”

On whether he will play McCoy again this season if he passes his independent neurological exam:“I haven’t thought about that.”

On whether the Eagles have been reckless with their ball handling:“We had a couple of fumbles that took place. Bryce’s was contact while getting the ball, but again you have to make sure you learn from that and secure it the best you can with your off-hand. Clay has to keep it covered in traffic. If you’re getting hit by three guys, you have to make sure you have the ball.”

On whether he will give more playing time to RB Dion Lewis due to the fumbles by Brown:“Dion has played quite a bit the last couple of games. He’s had a chance to get in there and play, and we’ll keep rotating them.”

On whether he believes it is better to remove Brown from the lineup due to his recent fumbles or to continue to play him due to his need for experience: “Looking at his background of not playing much in the past few years, I think it is important that he plays. I know his personality and he wants to make sure he does the right things. That’s the way he is. He’s not trying to fumble the ball, that’s for sure. He has to get better at that.”

NICK FOLES

On the deep ball he threw that was intercepted:“I mean, it was just a vertical throw, just trying to take a shot and if I’m being honest, I just made a horrible throw. The ball came out bad and it had a little bit of wobble to it. You have to really cut it and I didn’t do that. I just have to spin it and it started fluttering towards the end. I under threw [WR] Jeremy [Maclin] and the guy came back and made a play. So it’s a bad throw, it’s one that I can’t have. But it happened and I just have to, next time it happens just really throw it out there.”

On whether he thought the throw to Maclin could have been a touchdown:“Well I felt good. Anytime I’ve got one of our receivers on a guy one-on-one going vertical, I feel really good about it. So I just have to get the ball out there and make a better throw.”

On whether he feels things are spiraling out of control:“It’s tough but you just try to think about the next time you get the ball. Move the ball. Be efficient. The game is never over until time runs out. That’s the mindset I always have no matter what the score. Play our hearts out and you just can’t make mistakes. Mistakes lose you football games. You can’t turn over the ball. We have to protect the ball. I thought our defense was fighting all game and got some turnovers early and we need to, we had the ball in the redzone and we need to capitalize on that. We need to get the ball in the end zone and score touchdowns instead of coming away with field goals. That will help a lot. I mean the big thing is we have to protect the ball and we’ll be in a different situation if we do that.”

On whether his deep passes are accurate in practice but not in the game:“I mean it just depends on what the defense is doing. We were throwing a lot, so they started playing softer and you try to take shots when they come up a little tighter so you can’t really, you know if we have a look we’re going to try and take a shot. We tried to take a shot with the deep ball and made a bad throw. So I have to make better throws when we do take shots and really take advantage of it.”

On whether he can make deep throws accurately:“I can, yes.”

On what was the difference between the last game and this one:“We lost. I mean that’s it. We have to get the job done. At the quarterback position, I take pride in putting points on the board and we didn’t put on more points than the other team. So that’s on the quarterback. That’s on me. You have to go back to the film, have to keep grinding, keep getting better and that’s why one week you win and the next week it’s tough. So you just have to keep running. Just have to be critical on myself. There’s a lot of things to improve on, but I’m going to work hard at it. I’m going to work hard to improve on all them.”

On whether he was second guessing himself in the redzone:“Different things happen. Different plays have different things built in, so based on what we’re seeing, trying to get us in the best look. But have to capitalize. We have to execute. I have to execute down there and we have to get the ball in the end zone.”

On whether he thinks he improved in any aspect tonight:“I mean there’s always stuff you can take away from games. I mean each game, you learn more and more throughout it. And I mean I learned a lot throughout this game. It doesn’t feel good right now and it won’t feel good for, like I said before, I have a 24 hours rule when dealing with a game, but I’m going to learn a lot from it. I’m going to use this game as moving forward. And I mean, that’s all you can do.”

On Brown’s fumble:“It’s just one of those things, one of those freak things. I don’t know. I just know that we have to hold onto the ball. I’ll see it on film, but I mean my job is always to get Bryce [the ball]. I know there was a guy, I think they had a good step on us with a guy shooting up the gap. It doesn’t happen often, but we have to make sure me and Bryce get the exchange right and don’t let the ball hit the ground. I have to make sure I get it to him and in a good spot and I know he’ll hold on to it.”

On the lack of deep throws and the game plan against the defense:“Like I said before, it depends on what the other team is doing, based on coverages and stuff. What’s good versus different coverages. We were hitting some good routes. We hit some 20-yard routes and like I said, we tried to take advantage of the defense and I made a bad throw. So I just have to play the game, no matter what play is called, you just have to run it. I have to be on target, have to be on time and we have to execute and drive the ball down the field and put it in the end zone.”

On whether anything changed in Cincinnati’s defense after the half:“They played well. We just have to protect the ball. I mean it’s just as simple as that. Protecting the ball and limiting the turnovers is huge. Most of the time that will win you a game if you can hold onto the ball.”

On what he wants to do in the last two games:“I just take it a day at a time. Just get better. There is a lot to learn from this film. I saw the guys’ eyes after the game and everyone is still going to be there working. Everybody is still going to fight. We’re going to stick together as a team. I know the coaches are still sticking together and we’re going to move forward. That’s the only thing I know to do is move forward no matter what. Win, lose, no matter what. I’m going to keep pushing, keep working. I’m going to learn. I’m going to grind. I want to win these games. I know all of us want to win these games, but it’s going to take the proper steps. We need to look at the film, see what we need to do better, protect the ball and keep staying together, keep pushing on and get something going.”

On what they learned from the first game against Washington this season: “They’re a talented team. They’ll be a different defense than Cincinnati and it just goes back to that we need to execute and protect the ball. They’re going to come in here on a playoff hunt and we just have to stick together, execute our plays, when we get the ball in the redzone, we have to put it in the end zone. I mean, that’s key. We need to learn from this film and move forward.”

JEREMY MACLIN

On losing like this after such a big win last week:“It’s frustrating not to be able to come through and get a win. Turnovers killed us today. I felt like everything happened so fast. I felt like we were in control of the game and then everything just went downhill.”

On his fumble on the second play of the game:“I have to take care of the ball. I tried to get out of there and the defender made a good play.”

On what happened after the team took the lead:“Turnovers killed us. You can’t keep putting the defense inside of the 30-yard line. Eventually an NFL team is going to score on you. This was on the offense and special teams today.”

On whether turnovers are caused by mental lapses:“I wouldn’t say that every time. It’s certainly a possibility that could be part of it. Sometimes it just happens. Obviously, you have to take extra care of the ball. I think Nick wants to take his interception back. It’s always hard to ask a defensive lineman to catch a popup on a kickoff return. The other one, [TE] Clay [Harbor] caught it and it was bang bang. [RB Bryce Brown] had the one with the quarterback exchange and then me on the second play of the game. You can’t do that and win games.”

On the emotion of winning a big game last week and coming out and losing a tough game this week:“The one thing that you can take from this game was that we understand exactly why we lost the game. It’s simple, we turned the ball over. We spotted them 10 points and then after that, they couldn’t stop us. We stopped ourselves inside the red zone twice. We would like to turn those into touchdowns. The offense had momentum and the defense was getting to the quarterback. Like I said, that third quarter, it happened so quickly.”

On whether this was one of the most embarrassing losses of the season: “Every loss is embarrassing. There is no such thing as an okay loss.”

BRYCE BROWN

On his fumble tonight:“Everything happened so fast. I know right at the exchange I was getting hit. It was tough there. They got penetration as I started going downhill. He could have hit Nick or he could have hit me.”

On whether he thinks he is going to find something that he could have done differently on the fumble after looking at the tape:“I have to look at it. From what everyone was telling me, there was not much that I could have done. I will go back and assess that.”

On whether he looked up at the defense when he should have been watching the ball into his hands on the exchange:“We are never looking at the ball during the exchange. That is something we never do. We always look up and stay on track.”

On whether it felt like everything was going against them at the end of the third quarter:“Everything happened so fast. We were up and then the next thing you knew we were down big. This was a rough loss. We hate to lose like that. Any competitor would.”

On whether he feels like they lost the momentum after the Tampa Bay win last week:“I thought things were going good, but turnovers and penalties cost us. It’s hard to come back from that.”

On how he bounces back from fumbles and whether it is a mental thing:“I don’t know because I have never had this problem before. I think I actually did well with ball security today. I thought I did great except for that one time and there was not much I could have done there.”

On whether he thinks that he has had problems fumbling because he has not played much over the past few years:“I honestly don’t know. It could be that, but I don’t think that’s an excuse. Last game I did a great job of ball security. Something like this happens. I looked up and the guy was in my face, hitting me before the exchange.”

On whether he believes he is running to the outside too much:“I do what I do, see what I see and try to make plays. We just have to make adjustments. They did a great job of containing the outside and we got a few good inside runs.”

On whether he was seeing a lot of 7- and 8-man fronts: “Yeah, there was a whole lot of that.”

CLAY HARBOR

On how the game changed after the turnovers started to pile up:“It was a little snowball effect right there. Snowball effect, fumbles. As far as for me, I have to tuck the ball in. That was a big play. We were only down two scores at that point. It would have been a nice play if it got us out there on the right direction. I just have to hang on to that.”

On whether the stretch of turnovers in the second half was reflective of how the season has been going:“I can agree with that because it just seems like, in the game, things were looking well, we were playing well, and then one thing happens and it snowballs on us. We put the defense in some really tough spots there and they did a good job. We just have to be tougher mentally and fight through those spells like that.”

On getting banged up in the game: “I caught a ball by the red zone in the first half and I kind of got hit in the back and my back just locked up. It was pretty bad after that. It was really hard to move or do too much after that, but I wanted to fight through it for my teammates and with [TE] Brent [Celek] being out. I had to play.”

JASON AVANT

On having control of the game and then suddenly it falls apart:“It’s been the story of the whole year. It’s been that type of thing going on and we were not protecting the football. It always gets you beat no matter where you are, no matter what the situation it is. We’ve been fortunate to be able to stay in some of these games in which we have turned the ball over in.”

On why turnovers continue to happen for this team, especially with the emphasis head coach Andy Reid places on that:“It’s just a negligence by the players. It’s definitely not the coaches. The coaches are doing everything. We have fumble drills going on at practice. We have everything going on with that stuff, protecting the football and all that kind of stuff. It’s a lack of attention. On the players’ part, it’s just something we have to do. The coaches yell until we’re red in the face, but if the players don’t take it serious enough, it’s not going to keep happening.”

On how the younger players can be made accountable so that they can learn that turnovers cannot continue to trouble this team:“You have to talk to the coach about that. It has to be a bigger sense not just yourself, but of the organization. When you’re carrying the football, you’re representing the Eagles’ fans, Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie and the coaching staff. I think it has to become more than just about ‘you’ and when you carry that football, you represent a whole bunch of people and I don’t think that we have that mindset all of the time.”

On the feeling amongst the players after losing again on national television: “I was thoroughly embarrassed tonight. I don’t care if there was no cameramen there or if we were playing over at the University of Penn—That type of thing that happened tonight was embarrassing wherever you are, even if you’re in the sandlot. So, never mind that it was on a national stage, it was just not good football that happened tonight—It just wasn’t good.”